The geopolitical crisis in Ukraine could cut Russia’s balance of payments by the equivalent of 2% of GDP, and lower oil prices could knock off another 2%, Maksim Oreshkin, head of Russia’s Finance Ministry's strategic planning department, said. Russia’s Urals crude oil experienced a significant drop from its June price of above $110 per barrel to its current price of $93 per barrel, a reduction that Oreshkin believes, coupled with Ukraine-related economic problems, could sink Russia’s balance of payments by a total of 4 percent.
Updated 5 Years ago

It said work-focused users in particular should benefit from the Blackberry Passport's innovations. Sales of the company's handsets - which are powered by its own operating system - have been in decline. Analysts said the new device should appeal to existing Blackberry owners but might struggle to win over others.
Updated 5 Years ago

In a 12-3 vote, the council approved the rise for HOTELS with more than 300 rooms on 1 July 2015 and for HOTELS with more than 150 rooms a year later. The new wage floor would be one of the highest in the US. It was opposed by the HOTEL industry, which said it would force worker redundancies. Mayor Eric Garcetti has said he will sign the bill into law.
Updated 5 Years ago

More than 200 Polish miners obstructed Russian coal trains at the border in northeast Poland, threatening that any future trains will also be stopped, to protest the “dumping” of Russian coal imports that are hurting Poland’s struggling mining industry. The Russian coal was stopped at the Polish-Russian border crossing at Braniewo-Mamonowo, and was led by mining union leaders, local Polish media reported Wednesday.
Updated 5 Years ago

Beijing is ready to meet fruit and vegetable demand in Russia after Moscow’s food embargo on the West, a Chinese commerce official said. Boosting agricultural trade, already worth $20 billion a year, would further cement Russia’s links with China. The eastern Chinese region of Shandong is ready to meet these demands, Izvestia newspaperreported Wednesday, citing the director of the Department of Commerce in the province, Zhang Qingwei.
Updated 5 Years ago

Three so-far-unnamed Brazilian dairy companies have received the proper paperwork to start deliveries to Russia, a representative of the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture said. The new imports will help fill a gaping hole left by EU suppliers. One of the companies has already started deliveries, Marcelo Junqueira, secretary for international affairs of the Brazilian Agriculture Ministry Marcelo said, ITAR-TASS reported.
Updated 5 Years ago

Almost in the same All-American league as baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet, Pabst Blue Ribbon beer will now be in the hands of a Russian brewer. Oasis Beverages, which did not even classify beer as an alcoholic beverage until 2011, announced on Thursday that it would acquire the 170-year old American brewer Pabst Brewing Company with American private-equity firm TSG Consumer Partners owning a minority share.
Updated 5 Years ago

The supermarket chain said it was now working to establish the impact of the issue on its full-year results. It had expected £1.1bn profit for the half year. It has appointed Deloitte to independently investigate the issue.
Updated 5 Years ago

The American firm makes oilfield equipment and, under the deal, it will become "the platform for oil and gas equipment solutions within Siemens". The German firm said its $83-a-share bid had been unanimously supported by Dresser-Rand's board of directors.
Updated 5 Years ago

Concerned by the low level, less than 20 percent of fraud reporting by deposit money banks, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has moved with more punitive measures to ensure full compliance. The CBN said it would today or on Monday issue another circular to all banks to speed up to capture all their customers in the Bank Verification Number (BVN) exercise which is one of the measures put in place to combat fraud in the industry.
Updated 5 Years ago